‘Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments,’ Jeff Teper, Microsoft president of collaborative applications and platforms, said in a post.
Microsoft plans to retire the consumer version of its Skype video-calling product May 5 to focus on Teams, usage of which exploded during the global pandemic and which continues to bring business to Microsoft channel partners. The vendor is still rolling out updates for other offers bearing the Skype name.
The Redmond, Wash.-based productivity tools giant said Skype’s retirement comes as a way “to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs,” according to an online post Friday authored by Jeff Teper, Microsoft president of collaborative applications and platforms.
“Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey,” Teper said in the post. “We also understand that change can be challenging and want you to know that we’re here to support you every step of the way. We’re excited about the new opportunities that Teams brings and are committed to helping you stay connected in new and meaningful ways.”
CRN has reached out to Microsoft for comment.
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Microsoft To Kill Consumer Skype
Microsoft is stopping Skype Credit and other paid Skype offers to new customers. Current users can leverage Skype Credits and subscriptions until the end of the next renewal period. Even after May 5, the Skype Dial Pad will remain available to remaining paid users from within Teams and the Skype web portal.
Microsoft previously retired its Skype for Business Online product in 2021 and encouraged users to upgrade to Teams. The vendor started decommissioning Skype for Business Online infrastructure in 2022.
Zac Paulson, director of product and strategy at ABM Technology Group, a West Fargo, N.D.-based Microsoft solution provider, told CRN in an interview that he was surprised the consumer version was still around.
“Time to move on to something new,” he said. “Time for it to ride off into the sunset.”
However, the Skype brand isn’t dead for some Microsoft users. According to a roadmap published by Microsoft last year, Skype for Business Server Subscription Edition (SE) is expected to release in the third quarter of 2025. In December, the vendor released Cumulative Update 8 (CU8) for Skype for Business Server 2019, even bringing back the persistent chat (PChat) feature for creating discussion rooms centered around specific topics.
Paulson told CRN that he never runs into customers with Skype for Business anymore, chalking up the need for keeping the brand alive to larger enterprises for whom migration is a bigger chore than smaller organizations.
Teams, meanwhile, has grown to hundreds of millions of users since its launch in 2017. Over the past two years, the number of minutes spent in meetings by consumer users of Teams has grown fourfold, according to Microsoft. Teams Phone now has more than 20 million Publicly Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)-enabled users.
Over the coming days, Skype users will have the ability to sign into free Teams on any supported device with Skype credentials. Skype chats and contacts will automatically move over to Teams.
Skype users not moving to Teams can export their chats, contacts, call history and other data, according to Microsoft.